Eve has a new home, a new face, and a new name-but no memories of her past. She's been told that she's in a witness protection program. That she escaped a dangerous magic-wielding serial killer who still hunts her. The only thing she knows for sure is that there is something horrifying in her memories the people hiding her want to access-and there is nothing they won't say-or do-to her to get her to remember. At night she dreams of a tattered carnival tent and buttons being sewn into her skin. But during the day, she shelves books at the local library, trying to not let anyone know that she can do things-things like change the color of her eyes or walk through walls. When she does use her strange powers, she blacks out and is drawn into terrifying visions, returning to find that days or weeks have passed-and she's lost all short-term memories. Eve must find out who and what she really is before the killer finds her-but the truth may be more dangerous than anyone could have ever imagined.
What if you could wield the power of creation? If you were the daughter of a Pagan witch and a Jewish mystic, you might command a king of demons to do your bidding and force the dead to rise. But Miri Rotter gains even more magical gifts when she performs an ancient spell and creates a homunculus, a little man-creature brimming with mystery and magical powers. With the help of the homunculus, Miri embarks on a new life of unimagined magic and riches-but the consequences of ignorance are grave. She inadvertently places her dearest friend in mortal danger and desperately attempts to save her. Ghosts, angels, and demons are all enlisted to aid Miri in her quest to keep those she loves safe from the perils of magic unleashed.
2022 Honorable Mention, John Leo & Dana Heller Award for Best Single Work, Anthology, Multi-Authored, or Edited Book in LGBTQ Studies, Popular Culture Association (PCA) 2023 Honorable Mention, Outstanding Book, Latinx Studies Section of Latin American Studies Association (LASA) This study argues that powerful authorities and institutions exploit the ambiguity of Latinidad in ways that obscure inequalities in the United States. Is Latinidad a racial or an ethnic designation? Both? Neither? The increasing recognition of diversity within Latinx communities and the well-known story of shifting census designations have cast doubt on the idea that Latinidad is a race, akin to white or Black. And the mainstream media constantly cover the “browning” of the United States, as though the racial character of Latinidad were self-evident. Many scholars have argued that the uncertainty surrounding Latinidad is emancipatory: by queering race—by upsetting assumptions about categories of human difference—Latinidad destabilizes the architecture of oppression. But Laura Grappo is less sanguine. She draws on case studies including the San Antonio Four (Latinas who were wrongfully accused of child sex abuse); the football star Aaron Hernandez’s incarceration and suicide; Lorena Bobbitt, the headline-grabbing Ecuadorian domestic-abuse survivor; and controversies over the racial identities of public Latinx figures to show how media institutions and state authorities deploy the ambiguities of Latinidad in ways that mystify the sources of Latinx political and economic disadvantage. With Latinidad always in a state of flux, it is all too easy for the powerful to conjure whatever phantoms serve their interests.
In 1968, young girls who were pregnant and unmarried were sometimes sent to cold and haunted places. Meg Fiano was one of them. Doomed to reside in a home with bolted windows and doors. Where some of the residents were not of this world. Years before her father dabbled with magic. He tried to conjure beings of light. Sweet angels whose names he chanted in a musty attic. Darkness answered his prayers instead. He made a terrifying deal with something that thirsted for the blood of the young and innocent. Meg remembered an ancient statue, a relic her father gave vile offerings. The first pain of childbirth tore through her body, and something from Hell came to claim its part of a bargain made long ago…
The night was dark and stormy as a group of friends gathered around a crackling fire in the middle of the woods. Jenna, a self-proclaimed horror enthusiast, had convinced her friends to embark on a camping trip to the remote location in search of a mysterious chest rumored to have been conjured by a powerful witch centuries ago. The flames danced erratically, casting elongated shadows that seemed to writhe with a life of their own against the dense foliage surrounding their campsite. The air was thick with the scent of pine and petrichor, punctuated by the occasional crack of thunder that made even the bravest among them flinch. Jenna's eyes gleamed with an almost feverish excitement as she gazed into the fire. Her long, dark hair whipped about her face in the wind, giving her an almost wild appearance. Beside her, her childhood friend Mark shifted uncomfortably, his usually easygoing demeanor replaced by a palpable tension. "I still can't believe you talked us into this, Jen," he muttered, pulling his jacket tighter around his broad shoulders. "This place gives me the creeps." On the other side of the fire, Karen and Tom huddled close together, their fingers intertwined. Karen's pale face was a mask of anxiety, her free hand clutching a worn leather-bound book to her chest – a tome of local legends she'd borrowed from the town library before their trip. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," Karen ventured, her voice barely audible over the howling wind. "The stories in this book... they're not just campfire tales, Jenna. People have gone missing in these woods." Jenna's laugh cut through the night, sharp and dismissive. "That's what makes it exciting, Karen! Besides, we're all adults here. What's the worst that could happen?" As if in answer, a bolt of lightning illuminated the sky, followed almost immediately by a deafening clap of thunder. In that brief flash of light, Tom could have sworn he saw something move in the trees beyond their campsite – something large and distinctly inhuman. He blinked, trying to convince himself it was just a trick of the light. "Guys," he said, his voice shaky, "maybe we should head back in the morning. This storm is getting worse." But Jenna was already launching into the legend of the chest, her voice taking on a hypnotic quality that held her friends spellbound despite their misgivings. "It all started back in 1692," she began, her eyes reflecting the dancing flames. "A woman named Abigail Thorne lived on the outskirts of a small settlement, not far from where we are now. The townsfolk whispered that she was a witch, but they had no proof – until the night of the blood moon." As Jenna spoke, the wind seemed to die down, as if nature itself was listening to her tale. The fire cra "On that night, Abigail was seen dancing naked in the woods, chanting in a language no one recognized. The next morning, three children from the village had vanished without a trace. When the townspeople confronted Abigail, they found her in possession of a strange chest – the very one we're looking for." Karen's grip on Tom's hand tightened as Jenna's story unfolded. Even Mark, who had been skeptical from the start, found himself leaning in, captivated by the tale. "They say Abigail had made a deal with dark forces to create the chest," Jenna went on, her voice dropping to a near-whisper. "It was said to grant immense power to whoever possessed it, but at a terrible cost. The chest was cursed, bringing misfortune and death to all who dared to open it." A twig snapped in the darkness beyond their circle of firelight, causing everyone to jump. Tom's eyes darted around nervously, searching for the source of the sound, but saw nothing but impenetrable shadows. "W-what happened to Abigail?" Karen asked, her voice trembling. Jenna's eyes glittered with a mix of excitement and something darker, more primal. "They tried to burn her at the stake, but she escaped. The chest disappeared with her, and Abigail was never seen again. But they say her spirit still haunts these woods, guarding the chest and waiting for someone worthy – or foolish enough – to seek its power."
A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft. The most obvious characteristic of a witch was the ability to cast a spell which is a word used to signify the means employed to carry out a magical action. A spell could consist of a set of words, a formula or verse, or a ritual action, or any combination of these. Spells traditionally were cast by many methods and two methods are by the immolation or binding of a wax or clay image of a person to affect him or her magically and by gazing at mirrors, swords or other speculas for purposes of divination. The Witch of Endor who had conjured up a spirit is mentioned in this book, and also, the witch is mentioned in the book of Samuel. Other types of witchcraft that are included in this book are: Folk Magic, Voodoo, Hoodoo, Roots Working, Séance, and more. This book will entertain and mesmerize its readers.
The authoritative true story of the notorious deadly chest and the victims of the curse placed on it around 1830. The original letter by Virginia Cary Hudson is researched and published by Dr. Beverly Mayne Kienzle, Virginia's granddaughter and retired Harvard professor.
A mother and daughter with a shared talent for healing—and for the conjuring of curses—are at the heart of this dazzling first novel WINNER OF THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN HISTORIANS PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times • NPR • Parade • Book Riot • PopMatters “Lush, irresistible . . . It took me into the hearts of women I could otherwise never know. I was transported.”—Amy Bloom, New York Times bestselling author of White Houses and Away Conjure Women is a sweeping story that brings the world of the South before and after the Civil War vividly to life. Spanning eras and generations, it tells of the lives of three unforgettable women: Miss May Belle, a wise healing woman; her precocious and observant daughter Rue, who is reluctant to follow in her mother’s footsteps as a midwife; and their master’s daughter Varina. The secrets and bonds among these women and their community come to a head at the beginning of a war and at the birth of an accursed child, who sets the townspeople alight with fear and a spreading superstition that threatens their newly won, tenuous freedom. Magnificently written, brilliantly researched, richly imagined, Conjure Women moves back and forth in time to tell the haunting story of Rue, Varina, and May Belle, their passions and friendships, and the lengths they will go to save themselves and those they love. LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE “[A] haunting, promising debut . . . Through complex characters and bewitching prose, Atakora offers a stirring portrait of the power conferred between the enslaved women. This powerful tale of moral ambiguity amid inarguable injustice stands with Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “An engrossing debut . . . Atakora structures a plot with plenty of satisfying twists. Life in the immediate aftermath of slavery is powerfully rendered in this impressive first novel.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Winner of the 2017 James M. Blaut Award from the Cultural and Political Ecology Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers Honorable Mention for the 2016 Book Prize from the Association for Political and Legal Anthropology Since the 1960s, when Brazil first encouraged large-scale Amazonian colonization, violence and confusion have often accompanied national policies concerning land reform, corporate colonization, indigenous land rights, environmental protection, and private homesteading. Conjuring Property shows how, in a region that many perceive to be stateless, colonists - from highly capitalized ranchers to landless workers - adopt anticipatory stances while they await future governance intervention regarding land tenure. For Amazonian colonists, property is a dynamic category that becomes salient in the making: it is conjured through papers, appeals to state officials, and the manipulation of landscapes and memories of occupation. This timely study will be of interest to development studies scholars and practitioners, conservation ecologists, geographers, and anthropologists.
